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N.C. House OKs Delay In Implementing New Social Studies Standards

(FILE) A class at South Fork Elementary in Winston-Salem. KERI BROWN/WFDD

North Carolina Republican lawmakers are seeking a one-year delay in implementing a new social studies curriculum in the state's public schools. 

The delay was tucked into a rewritten COVID-19 relief bill that passed in the state House on Wednesday.

The State Board of Education had approved the new K-12 social studies standards in February. Some Republicans have criticized the standards because they contain elements of “Critical Race Theory,” a controversial teaching approach that incorporates explicit discussion of racism and discrimination.

Just last week, former President Donald Trump appeared at the state GOP convention, telling lawmakers they need to block the teaching of critical race theory.

Republican legislators say the delay is needed because state education officials have not finished preparing the curriculum.

Representative Jeffrey Elmore says implementation is “logistically impossible.”

But The News & Observer reports some Democrats say delaying the new standards would cause even more disruption, as teachers would now have to rewrite lesson plans for the coming year.

State Superintendent Catherine Truitt called the last-minute legislation “discouraging,” and said that schools “need clarity as soon as possible.”

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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